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Mexican researchers have reconstructed the political, economic, religious and cultural life of the ancient Mayan capital of Palenque on the basis of inscriptions left behind by its governing caste, the National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said Wednesday.

The governing caste of Palenque, from its first ruler, or Ajaw, to the last, left written testimony of dates, myths, births, deaths and battles, the INAH said in a statement.

The researchers traced the history of the nobility of Palenque, which was located in what today is the southeastern Mexican state of Chiapas and reached its peak in the 7th century, by deciphering what its 18 rulers left inscribed on stelae, lintels, panels and structures decorated with mural painting and reliefs.

The information obtained by deciphering these glyphic texts has been compiled in the book “‘Palenque-Lakam Ha,’ an Immortal Presence of the Indigenous Past,” by experts Mercedes de la Garza, Martha Cuevas Garcia and Guillermo Bernal Romero.

The inhabitants of Palenque, a significant western capital of the Early Classic Maya period, called the city “Lakam Ha,” or “Place of the Great Waters,” because of its numerous springs, streams and wide cascades.

Panamanian prosecutors filed formal charges against three people arrested last week in connection with the murder of two Spanish businessmen, an official spokesperson told Efe.

Jose Antonio Perdomo, 57, and Miguel Untiedt, 47, a German-born Spanish citizen, were found dead last Thursday at the younger man’s country home east of the Caribbean coastal city of Colon.

Two of the three suspects picked up shortly after the discovery of the bodies refused to give statements, while the third is cooperating with investigators, the spokesperson said.

Both victims had been shot in the head, chest and arms, chief medical examiner Humberto Mas said last weekend.

The investigation continues, but authorities suggest the men were murdered by poachers who wanted revenge after some of Untiedt’s employees killed their hunting dogs.

Within hours of the discovery of the bodies, Panamanian authorities informed Spanish Ambassador Jesus Silva Fernandez that three suspects had been arrested.

Panama’s president, Ricardo Martinelli, also contacted Silva to assure him the killers would be found.

Perdomo and Untiedt hailed from Spain’s Canary Islands, but the latter had been traveling back and forth to Panama for 15 years and had effectively made the home near Colon his primary residence, Spanish diplomats told Efe.

The number of children born in Spain fell once again between January and June of this year, a period during which 223,853 children were born, 2.7 percent fewer than during the first half of 2011, according to official figures released Wednesday.

The National Statistics Institute, or INE, also reported that the number of deaths increased during that time, rising in the first half of the year by 9.7 percent to 217,017.

The figures show that the overall aging of the Spanish population is continuing, a situation that began in 2009, the first year in which a decline in the birth rate was registered.

According to the Natural Movement of the Population and Basic Demographic Indicators survey, the falloff in births is due both to the fewer number of women of childbearing age as well as to the reduced fertility among Spanish women as well as foreigners.

The percentage of births to foreign mothers, however, fell more rapidly than did births to Spanish mothers, dropping to 18.7 percent of the total, as compared to 19.1 percent in 2011.

Singer-songwriter Henry Santos is in the middle of preparing what will be his second post-Aventura album.

In contrast to his first album, Santos is returning to his roots with the famous bachata group on the the new project.

Santos, who spoke with Efe during the filming of the video for his next single “My way,” written by fellow Aventura alumnus Lenny Santos (no relation) at a South Beach mansion, is intending to release the single in January.

Henry said that his first album as a soloist - “Introducing Henry Santos” - had his “stamp” of originality and other rhythms apart from bachata.

The singer shared with Efe that he had gathered songs from other production companies and, so far, there are six songs ready that include bachata, electronic-merengue, bachata with tango, dance and others.

“I also add all the experience of ‘Mira Quien Baila,’ where I grew as a person, and I grew even as a composer because every time you bathe yourself in positive things, you grow,” he said.

Last season, Santos was the winner on the reality show “Mira Quien Baila” (Look Who’s Dancing), which airs on the Hispanic network Univision.

The show gave him the chance to learn “much more” about dance, which - he said - “I will incorporate from now on to be a more complete artist.”

The tragic deaths this week of two children, one of them a 4-month-old baby who was placed in a freezer, reopens the drama of violence against children in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Ricans learned on Wednesday from the island’s chief of police, Hector Pesquera, that the mother and stepfather of the baby had a barbacue while the child’s body was still inside the freezer, where they went to get ice.

The macabre information imparted by Pesquera illustrates the difficult situation some children face in Puerto Rico, which has been mired in a deep economic crisis for more than five years and, in addition, is dealing with a crime wave linked to drug trafficking.

Unemployment, a lack of values and poor education are causes pointed to by experts to explain the situation faced by Puerto Rico, where 200 cases of child abuse are reported every month and where in 2010 - the last year for which figures are available - five children died at the hands of their own parents.

Police so far this year have registered 32 murders of children under age 18. At least 934 people have died under violent circumstances on the island in 2012, although that is 167 fewer than last year.

The most shocking case is that of the 4-month-old baby, whose body remained in the freezer for six days until found by police, after they came to the home in San Juan’s Caparra Terrace neighborhood in response to a telephone call for help placed by the mother, who lived there with another 4-year-old child and the presumed murderer.

Pesquera said that the behavior of Jose Miranda Lopez was an “aberration from nature,” and it remains to be determined if the mother also acted improperly in the death of the child, whose body apparently was kept in a plastic bag in the freezer.

The FBI announced that it will take jurisdiction of the case and Miranda Lopez will be treated as a federal fugitive.

A 5-month-old baby died Tuesday in this capital after a man thought to be its stepfather put the child into a freezer after having an argument with its mother.

Police said that the man, identified by some media outlets as Jose Miranda Lopez, got into a heated argument with his wife, after which he locked himself in one of the rooms of his home and then put the baby into the freezer.

A telephone tip led police to the scene in the Caparra Terrace neighborhood, where they found the infant dead.

Police arrested the man and questioned the child’s mother, who was identified as Xiomara Rodriguez Lopez.

Puerto Rico registers an average of 200 cases of child abuse each month, which social organizations attribute to the fact that about 25 percent of the young people on the island become parents before age 21, the estimated minimum age to be able to deal properly with raising children.

Domestic violence took the lives of 26 women on the island in 2011, one of the worst years in that regard in the recent history of Puerto Rico.

The government recently announced the passage of a law to revoke bail and send to jail anyone charged with domestic violence who violates the conditions of electronic supervision or threatens their partner or ex-partner in any way.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been recovering for more than a week in Cuba after an operation to deal with the return of his cancer, is in stable condition after his medical team treated him for a respiratory infection.

Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas announced on radio and television that Chavez’s “general condition ... at this time is one of stability” after on Monday “he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection, which the medical team immediately proceeded to treat and it has been controlled.”

Villegas added that experts say respiratory infections are a common occurrence in patients who have undergone complicated surgeries.

He added that the medical team attending the 58-year-old Chavez in Havana had reported that “he must have complete rest in the coming days.”

The Venezuelan leader traveled to Havana on Dec. 10 and underwent surgery the next day for the fourth time since he was first diagnosed in June of last year with a cancer that is known to be in the pelvic region, although its exact type and location have never been made public.

Vice President Nicolas Maduro, whom Chavez named as his political successor before leaving for Cuba for this latest surgery, has said that the president is facing a “complex” and “difficult” post-operative process.

The sadness continues as the first of those killed in the Newton, Connecticut shooting are being buried this week.

One of the lives lost was Jack Pinto, a 6-year-old wrestler and Victor Cruz fan.

On Monday, Jack was laid to rest wearing a white, number 80 New York Giants jersey, Cruz’s number and jersey for road games.

After learning Pinto was a big fan, Cruz, wrote “RIP Jack Pinto” on one of his cleats and “Jack Pinto, my hero” on the other. Cruz wore the cleats against his game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. He also had the boy’s name on his gloves.

On Friday morning, a shooter entered Sandy Hook Elementary School and opened fire. Before he would take his own life, the shooter killed 20 students, ages 6 and 7, and 6 adults. One other teacher was shot in the leg and arm as she held the door closed, trying to protect other faculty in the room for a meeting. Prior to arriving at the school, the shooter also killed his mother.

After Sunday’s game, Cruz, a father of a baby girl, pledged to visit Pinto’s family. On Tuesday, he kept that promise and spent hours with them in their home. He did not speak to the media or announce when he planned to arrive. He later played football with some of the children in the neighborhood and signed anything they handed him.

He letter tweeted:

Much love to the entire Pinto family. Great people with huge hearts. I’m sorry again for your loss. Looking at life through a different lens

Twin satellites Ebb and Flow crashed into a mountain near the Moon’s north pole ending a one-year mission during which they had taken images that will allow scientists to better understand the internal lunar structure, NASA announced Tuesday.

Last Friday, the two satellites received the order to begin their orbital descent, a move that ensured they would both ultimately hit the lunar surface.

In a precision maneuver, 50 minutes before impact the pair of spacecraft fired their engines until they had burned up all their remaining fuel.

The impact site, on the southern face of a mountain near the crater Goldschmidt, was dubbed Sally Ride, a tribute to the astronaut who was the first U.S. woman to go into space and who died last July at age 61 from cancer.

“We’re proud to be able to honor the contributions of Sally Ride by naming this corner of the Moon after her,” Maria Zuber, the MIT scientist in charge of the project, emphasized in a communique.

After years of preparation, a Delta II rocket was launched in September 2011 carrying the two satellites - the GRAIL A, which U.S. students dubbed Ebb, and the GRAIL B, which they named Flow - to the Moon.

The pair of space probes took more than 115,000 photos of the lunar surface that NASA experts will now begin analyzing.

Tuesday, Gap Inc. announced plans for the first stand-alone Gap stores in Brazil as part of the company’s continuing global expansion strategy. Gap Inc. signed an agreement with Tudo Bom Comércio Ltda. for the planned opening of the first stores in the fall of 2013.

Gap Inc. plans to expand its store base in the country over the next five years, part of its strong platform of growth in the Brazilian retail market.
“Brazil is a critical next step in our global expansion strategy and we are excited to introduce our store experience to customers,” said Stefan Laban, Managing Director of Strategic Alliances, Gap Inc. “Given that Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world and the largest Latin American economy, we feel that this market provides us with an incredible growth opportunity.”
Previously, Gap offered its products solely through duty-free channels throughout Brazil. The first Gap stores will open in Sao Paulo, the country’s largest city followed by Rio de Janerio. The stores will house Gap, GapKids and babyGap collections.

Gap Inc. has significantly expanded the international reach of its brands since launching its first franchise operated store in 2006. Over the last six years, Gap Inc. has substantially grown its store base and recently opened its 300th franchise store. Gap Inc. franchise stores can be found in 40 markets throughout Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Australia.

The expansion into Latin America began in 2011 with Gap Inc.’s first stores launching in Santiago, Chile. Most recently, Gap Inc. opened its first store in Uruguay and now has a presence in five Latin American countries, including Panama, Colombia and Mexico.

A man in Spain gave those in various town’s unemployment lines a very special gift recently.

Spending nearly $2,000, 60-year-old Bartolome Florido handed out 333 lottery tickets after seeing the “sadness” on the faces of those in line for their jobless benefits.

The driving instructor from Spain’s Costa del Sol region handed out the tickets in various towns in hopes of relieving their sadness and give them hope.

“I went through the dole queue in Malaga, Torremolinos, Benalmadena, Sevilla and Arroyo de la Miel, asking everyone if they were unemployed, and if they said yes, I gave them a ticket with the number 11.946,” Florido said. “A lot of them asked me, ‘how much is it?’ and when I said, nothing, it was a present, many of them hugged me and cried.”

The gunmen may have been trying to kill the boy’s uncle, who has a criminal record for drug trafficking, Trinidad said.

The man, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead from gunshots to the abdomen, head and shoulder at a hospital an hour after the shooting.

The boy, who was shot in the head and left side, died while being transported to a hospital.

The five gunmen burst into the man’s apartment and opened fire, hitting the boy.

A total of 931 people have been murdered in Puerto Rico so far this year.

Puerto Rico registered 1,136 murders in 2011, a figure that was up 15 percent from the prior year and was the highest murder total since 1940.

The increase in crime and violence in Puerto Rico is being blamed on drug traffickers, who are increasingly using Caribbean routes to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

Pressure by law enforcement authorities along the U.S.-Mexican border has forced drug gangs to use Caribbean islands, especially Puerto Rico, as transit centers for smuggling narcotics into the United States.

State-owned oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, said production hit 2.57 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in November, the highest level in the past 19 months.

The higher output was the “result of diversification of the portfolio of production projects,” Pemex said in a statement.

Production averaged 2.54 million bpd in the January-November period, which was below the 2.55 million bpd achieved during the same period in 2011.

Pemex expects to finish 2012 with average production of 2.55 million bpd and to hit 2.6 million bpd in December, Pemex Exploration and Production director Carlos Morales said in late October.

Pemex, the world’s No. 4 oil producer with output of 2.5 million bpd, is the biggest contributor to Mexico’s federal budget and is one of the few oil firms worldwide that handles all aspects of the productive chain, from exploration to distribution and the marketing of end products.

Monterrey coach Victor Manuel Vucetich on Tuesday praised his players’ performance at the Club World Cup in Japan, where the Mexican team finished in third place.

“I am really happy with the bronze, but especially because of the way we played since the boys understood how we should undertake these types of competitions,” the coach said on his return to Monterrey, the capital of the northern state of Nuevo Leon, from the championships.

Monterrey, the CONCACAF champions, defeated South Korea’s Ulsan Hyundai, the Asian champion, 3-1, lost to Chelsea 3-1 and beat Egypt’s Al-Ahly in the third-place match 2-0, matching the bronze won by Necaxa in 2000 as the best performance by a Mexican squad at the Club World Cup.

Vucetich and his players were greeted at the airport by about 50 fans, posing for photos with some of their admirers.

“We played against the Asian champion, the African (champion) and the European (champion), the result is positive and we should stay at a high level,” Vucetich said.

The coach refused to comment on the Clausura 2013 tournament, which starts in January, and said team officials planned to evaluate some of the talent on the market before deciding who to sign.

Monterrey, known as “Los Rayados,” expects to be one of the top teams in the Clausura tournament, but it is not clear how good of a start they can expect after their performance at the Club World Cup.

A U.S. man who has spent 18 months in a Bolivian jail on charges of money laundering is to be shifted to house arrest, a judge in the eastern city of Santa Cruz ordered Tuesday.

Jacob Ostreicher, a 53-year-old flooring contractor from New York, came to Bolivia in 2008 to start a rice plantation in the eastern province of Santa Cruz.

He was arrested in January 2011 on suspicion of money laundering after his Bolivian agent purchased land from two Brazilian nationals suspected of ties to drug trafficking.

In Tuesday’s hearing, the 30th of the trial, evidence was admitted that had previously been rejected, such as that obtained in the recent dismantling of a ring of officials who allegedly demanded bribes from Ostreicher.

Defense attorney Yimy Montaño told Efe that his client was tremendously happy about the judge’s decision and feels “a little calmer” now, to which the presence of his wife has also contributed - he had not seen her for nine months because she had to return to the United States.

Ostreicher arrived at the hearing protected with a helmet and a bulletproof-vest amid a strong police escort. His defense attorneys said he feared for his life.

Ostreicher’s situation is being followed closely by the State Department and U.S. lawmakers, and actor Sean Penn took time during a trip to Bolivia to visit the businessman behind bars.

The American, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, has spent much of the last month at a clinic in Santa Cruz city.

According to Montaño, his client will go back to the clinic to be given his release, and on Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday he will return home.

Just four years ago, Oakland public schools taught English as a second language to 14,000 adults. The students’ native tongues included Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic and more than 40 other languages. Then, the school district eliminated the program.

Today, because of budget cuts at the state capitol and the district headquarters, Oakland has reduced its adult classes to 320 parents who need to improve their English so they can help their children in school.

It is a familiar story in California, home to a quarter of the country’s population of adults with limited or no English skills. School districts are drastically scaling back adult education, especially English classes, all over the state.

“Districts are so desperate for funds just to take care of their basic mission that they’ve had to make these horrible decisions,” says Christian Nelson, the head of adult and career education at the Oakland school district and president of the California Council for Adult Education. He says 70 percent of the state money that once supported adult education has been redirected to fund instruction for children.

States’ ability to provide adult English classes could be a problem in negotiations over a federal immigration overhaul, because any reform plan almost certainly would require immigrants to know or learn English.

Officers with Customs and Border Protection, Office of Field Operations at the Pharr International Bridge seized $1,433,000 worth of brown heroin and arrested a man from Edinburg, Texas over the weekend.

On Saturday afternoon a 40-year-old male, U.S. citizen from Edinburg arrived at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge driving a 2003 white Mazda 6. A CBP officer referred the vehicle for an intense inspection after noticing discrepancies with a clothing hamper inside the trunk of the vehicle. Further inspection of the clothing hamper revealed 16 packages weighing approximately 14.33 pounds of brown heroin. CBP seized the narcotics and the vehicle.

The adult male traveler was arrested and released to the custody of Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation.

“Our officers’ keen sense of awareness and outstanding attention to detail enabled us to detect these narcotics and put a “hamper” on this failed smuggling attempt,” said Efrain Solis Jr., Hidalgo/Pharr/Anzalduas Port Director. “This small but significant interception of drugs has helped keep our citizens safe.”

A prison riot and escape attempt left 17 people dead at the penitentiary in Gomez Palacio, a city in the northern Mexican state of Durango, prosecutors said.

The alarm was sounded around 5:00 p.m. Tuesday at the prison when inmates opened fire on guard towers and stations, a Durango Attorney General’s Office spokesman told Efe.

A subsequent shootout left 11 inmates and six guards dead, the AG’s office spokesman said.

Soldiers on patrol outside the prison foiled the escape attempt and authorities later regained control of the facility, media reports said.

Officials transferred 137 federal inmates out of the prison last Sunday after receiving a recommendation from the National Human Rights Commission, or CNDH.

Federal Police officers inspected cells, hallways and common areas in the Gomez Palacio prison after the transfer and found household appliances, cell phones and homemade weapons, the Public Safety Secretariat said.

At a press conference attended by Donald Trump Jr., the son of the magnate, and Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, it was explained that pedestrian tunnels, bicycle paths and the rehabilitation of 700 kilometers of urban infrastructure, including sewers, public lighting, natural gas piping and a new fiber optic network are to be included in the project.

This initiative is part of the program to revitalize Rio’s port zone, and it forms a portion of the works the city is undertaking as it prepares to host the 2016 Olympic Games.

In addition to the Trump Organization, participating in the project will be MRP International, hedge fund Salamanca, Brazilian construction firm Even and Caixa Economica Federal, Brazil’s No. 2 state-owned bank.

The president of MRP International in Brazil, Stefan Ivanov, said that the first two towers are scheduled to be built starting in the second half of 2013, while the construction of the others will be accelerated “depending on the demand,” as well as how “the market ... is going to be defined” in terms of pricing the properties.

This is the first project by the Trump Organization in Brazil and Trump Jr., the executive vice president of the company, said that they are keeping the country in their sights with an eye toward expanding their hotel empire.

The association representing the more than 360 Spanish firms with operations in Cuba asked Iberia airline and Spain’s government Tuesday for the carrier to reverse its decision to eliminate service between Havana and Madrid.

In letters to Iberia chief Antonio Vazquez and Spanish Development Minister Ana Pastor, the association expressed its “deep concern” about the upcoming suspension of Iberia flights between Spain and Cuba.

“We know the elimination of this and other routes to the Caribbean will have a negative effect on our productive activities as well as on the growing and, right now, very profitable economic relations between the Iberian Peninsula and the island (Cuba),” the letters said.

The business group recalled that Spain is the island’s third-largest trade partner and the largest in the European Union, while noting that, despite the recession, Spanish sales to Cuba grew by 9.5 percent in 2011.

Spain’s minister of industry, energy and tourism, Jose Manuel Soria, said last week it is “unacceptable” that to fly from Spain to Havana one has to go through London, and asked Iberia to keep its routes to Latin America.

In his opinion, Iberia ought to continue offering its service on routes to Latin America because this market is very important for Spain and for the airline, and there is absolutely “no reason” to lose it.

A cocaine-laden semi-submersible vessel that sank early this month in Panama’s Caribbean waters will not be refloated due to the cost and possible risks of the operation, the country’s chief narcotics prosecutor said.

Javier Caraballo told reporters that the depth of the shipwreck, estimated at more than 600 meters (2,000 feet), makes recovery impossible.

“The operation is not only difficult but costly and dangerous in the extreme, so it’s not advisable to risk human lives in the recovery of this illegal substance,” he said.

Nonetheless, Caraballo said that the case remains under investigation.

The sunken semi-submersible, with an undetermined amount of the drug aboard, was discovered on Dec. 4 near Panama’s maritime boundary with Costa Rica.

Panama’s deputy minister of security, Manuel Moreno, confirmed to reporters the next day that two Hondurans and a Colombian had been arrested in the operation, and that about 75 kilos (165 pounds) were recovered at sea while naval units tried to reach the vessel to search for more of the drug.

Panamanian authorities were notified about the presence of the semi-submersible by their Costa Rican counterparts and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Costa Rican officials said.

Oxfam has launched a campaign in Mexico aimed at promoting job creation and slowing migration to the United States.

The “Me voy o me quedo” (I’m Going or I’m Staying) campaign will promote programs to provide alternatives for earning a living for people at risk of abandoning their communities due to poverty.

The campaign also seeks to help Mexicans living in the United States reconnect with their communities in Mexico.

The more than $22 billion in remittances received in Mexico each year slip away due to lack of programs to channel the money into productive investments for the communities that produce migrants.

The government estimates that an average of 390,000 Mexicans emigrate annually to the United States, while a report from the Washington-based Pew Research Center concluded that nearly 1.4 million people emigrated from Mexico to the United States in the 2005-2010 period.